In society, young black girls are constantly told that in order for them to be considered “beautiful” they have to be light skinned. If you are dark-skinned, then you are marginalized, and are harshly judged and ridiculed.

Tar Baby discusses issues, such as racism, colorism, self-hate, and other stereotypes that plague the black community. Self-hate stems from a very young age, and it surrounds us through imagery. Imagery is powerful, because it attacks the subconscious and depicts black as evil, and white as everything that is good.

Tianna grew up in a household where she was called derogatory names due to her skin color; In effect, that caused her to have issues within herself growing up. As Tianna got older, she began to realize the beauty of being dark-skinned, and embraced her inner and outer self.

Tar Baby is dedicated to all the dark skin girls who have been put down because of colorism. We know your stories and struggles. We encourage you to always find beauty from within, and not look in society’s eyes to define you.

Times have changed, but the old age saying of the grass being greener still remains the same.

I’m glad that I didn’t grow up during this time-period, and empathize with how difficult it must be for the younger generation to acquire relationships. The online social media frenzy takes control of every aspect of a person’s ability to ‘think’ reasonable.

Everybody can be who and what they want to be on social media. Lies, disloyalty, and facades run wild. A picture of a perfect relationship or marriage is painted with a ten second snapshot(pic). You get suckered into those daily snapshots and compare those snapshots to your REAL life. You feel inadequate and how you could be missing out on that perfect relationship that you see on social media. You begin looking at your significant other and comparing him/her to those ten second snapshots(pics). Your distorted mind starts playing tricks on you and began causing friction in your used to be stable relationship. You wonder what the hell you are doing in your current relationship and began romanticizing about those online snapshots.

It’s time to make a change and you need to do it fast! You have met that perfect guy or girl on Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or at work,etc. She’s cool. He’s fine. You want to get to know them better, because after all, your current stable relationship is dull and boring. You want and need excitement!

You hook up with the online love interest and it’s going all so well. You think to yourself, I want to leave my current relationship and start anew. I love being with the ‘new’ guy or girl. He/She’s perfect and exactly what I want in a man/woman. She/he understands me better than my current significant other. Your thoughts continue to fester and you need more time to be with that person to evaluate, and need assurance that the new relationship is going to last, because once you leave your current situation, there’s no turning back. Your current relationship grows more and more into turmoil because you are constantly thinking about that online love interest. You are ready to walk out that door! You can do better! I don’t need him/her because I got a better love interest!

You have left your current situation and have moved on into the new relationship. Everything is going well, except, it’s not going how you planned. You’re finally getting to spend more time with the new guy or girl, and they are starting to be totally opposite of when you were cheating. You no longer have to cheat, so the thrill of cheating is gone. You get to see the REAL person and not that ten second snapshot.

You’re right back at square one, well actually, square one is no longer available, you got rid of that square to be at another square. You’re at ground zero. You start to have remorse, buyer’s remorse. Similar to, “I shouldn’t have traded in my old car that was paid off and worked just fine for this shiny new car that I have to make monthly payments.” One day, you see your old car that you traded in, and it owns the road, just like it did when you drove it, but now, it has a NEW owner and the NEW owner has fixed it up to make it better. The old car seems much happier than when you owned it. After all, you rarely washed, cleaned, or maintained it. You had no appreciation for the old car and of how it got you back and forth to work with the turn of the key. You mistreated it. You become disgruntled. Your shiny new wheels began to look old, and quite frankly, you are tired of making those monthly payments, and that money could be put to good use elsewhere. The new car is becoming a pain to keep up with and drive. The every 3 month oil changes have increased in price along with the insurance rate. You become unhappy, again. Just like you were before you traded in that old car. You have come to realize, after the dusk is clearer, your old car wasn’t the problem, you were the problem! You created the problem and now, you want your old car back!

Life is a snapshot, people are a snapshot, and both can be gone at the snap of a finger. There are no perfect people or relationships. You spent all your time looking for the perfect relationship that doesn’t exists. You left a good relationship to capture a ten second broken snapshot. The snapshot is gone, just like your old paid off car. You feel even more alone and unhappy than before. You log into your online social media account and see that your ten second snapshots are joined into the warped cycle that you got sucked into. You fell for the ten second broken snapshots, just like thousands of other people that are addicted to social media facade. Your misery has lots of online company!

The moral of this story is, to capture and treasure the REAL snapshots in your life. Put more effort and appreciation into what you have, instead of looking for something that doesn’t exists. Build REALITY snapshots that will last a lifetime.